Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, February 23, 2024
IRC teams on the ground in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, are reporting growing numbers of people arriving at the Myanmar border as conflict continues to push people out of their hometowns. With over 2.8 million people internally displaced in Myanmar - 660,000 of whom have been displaced in the last four months - the humanitarian crisis in the region is likely to worsen at an alarming pace.
Despite the Bangladesh government refusing to accept any more refugees, citing the large numbers they have been hosting for over six years, the IRC is monitoring the situation and preparing to scale up our refugee response inside Cox’s Bazar refugee camp, should this decision change. Already, Cox’s Bazar is home to one million Rohingya refugees who fled persecution in August 2017. Since then, they have remained trapped in inadequate living conditions, including overcrowding and poorly built shelters prone to flooding or catching fire.
This week, IRC Bangladesh held a two-day exhibition and panel event, “Through the Lens of Hope: Rohingya Crisis Unfolded” calling on world leaders to highlight their growing needs retrain their attention and remember those people who have been living in camps in Cox’s Bazar for years without adequate shelter or support. The overall humanitarian situation in Cox’s Bazar is poised to worsen and, as the conflict in Myanmar continues to escalate close to the border, especially in Rakhine State, Bangladesh urgently requires the support of the international community, including donors, to properly support those who are seeking safety from the conflict.
